Reviews mixed on Lowell election operations

By Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com

Updated:
11/13/2012 07:26:42 AM EST

LOWELL -- With two officials who normally oversee elections leaving the office just before last Tuesday and a large turnout expected because of the high-profile presidential and U.S. Senate races, there was concern in some quarters about how Election Day would go in Lowell.

However, City Solicitor Christine O'Connor says voting in the city largely went off without a hitch, even with the city experiencing its highest voter turnout in the past 20 years. The city saw 62 percent, or close to 34,000 of its 54,753 registered voters, cast ballots.

Meanwhile, two city councilors did not paint as rosy a picture of the city's handling of the election and say they have some concerns they would like addressed.

In a memo to City Manager Bernie Lynch that was provided to the City Council late Friday, O'Connor credited some safeguards that were added to the city's standard election procedures for helping prevent any major problems that beset other communities from cropping up, such as long lines because of inactive voters or long traffic back-ups.

To make sure Election Day went smoothly, the city increased staffing at polling locations. O'Connor said the city typically has 166 poll workers for elections, but this year the city boosted that number to 200-215 poll workers.

The city also increased staffing in the Elections Office by 10-15 people and had a telephone bank room with 10 additional phone lines and computers.

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The phone bank helped reduce the calls directly to the Election Office.

A representative of the ballot-machine company was also on hand Tuesday. This helped the city dispatch repair services quickly to avoid long delays because of the many machines that jammed throughout the day, said O'Connor.

The city's actions, with guidance from the Secretary of State's Office, to address the more than 20,000 voters that were listed as inactive prior to the September primary also helped alleviate any delays that problem could have caused, said O'Connor.

The city had requested that an attorney from the Secretary of State's Office be present Tuesday, but the state decided to send its staff to other communities.

Lowell did hire Marsha Weinerman, the former executive director of elections in Cambridge, to serve as an Election Day observer. Weinerman will be providing a report on her observations, said O'Connor.

Before bringing Weinerman on board, the city hired Joseph Kaplan to help it prepare for the election. Kaplan used to serve as the assistant director of the Cambridge Election Commission.

Kaplan was brought on after Elections Office Manager Gail Cenik went out on medical leave and JoAnne O'Brien, her sister, quit her duties helping the city during election time.

O'Connor wrote that "while much went well, much more can be improved" and said she will continue to update Lynch and the council moving forward about the Elections Office.

City Councilor Rita Mercier disagreed with O'Connor's assessment. She said many polling locations could not get the supplies they needed, like working pens, and some locations did not have a smooth transition after the polls closed.

"There were so many glitches and there were a number of poll workers who said they want to quit because they were so frustrated," Mercier said. "I don't think we anticipated such a big turnout."

Mercier said she plans to detail more of her concerns at tonight's City Council meeting.

The election will be reviewed during discussion of motions by City Councilors Ed Kennedy and Vesna Nuon on how operations went last Tuesday.

Kennedy said one problem he was told about was people who requested absentee ballots not receiving them.

Kennedy said he also heard about people who were not on the registered-voters list who believe they should have been, people who were not offered provisional ballots and poll workers who were not given a lunch break.

In addition, the councilor said he does not want a repeat of voters casting their ballots in a gym while a basketball game is going on in the other part of the gym, which he said occurred at the Morey School. He wants the city to review its polling locations and its complement of poll workers to ensure they receive the proper training.

"I think Lowell did well in comparison to other communities despite extraordinary challenges," said Kennedy. "That does not mean there were not problems that should be looked at and taken care of."

Before receiving O'Connor's report, Nuon filed a motion calling for the city manager to provide a report to the council regarding voter turnout in the election along with a review of procedures and any proposed changes for future elections.

Nuon said he did not hear about any issues on Election Day, but wants to make sure if there were any, they are taken care of.

The councilor said he was encouraged that there were 7,000 new voters who participated, many of which he said were members of the Southeast Asian community who were voting for the first time or for the first time in several years.

Efforts to encourage Southeast Asians to vote included outreach through local TV and radio programs that focus on the city's Cambodian community, as well as door knocking and visits to facilities where Southeast Asians congregate.

"We did a lot of groundwork to encourage people to vote," Nuon said. "I was very excited by the numbers. I just want to make sure if there were any issues, we handle them."

Kennedy said he would like to see a report on how the city came up with the 7,000 new voters figure because the figure struck him as high.

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